Golden Arrows and Silver Scowls
by SilverAsTheFox
Summary: Finnick should have known better than to taunt the Cupid of Panem. Now, he's in love with the very being that hates the sight him. Based off of the Greek tale of Apollo and Daphne. FINNISS


I don't own the Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins does.

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Chapter One

I smirked, keeping my head held high. I just led an army into enemy grounds and completely demolished their military, why shouldn't I be happy? I had every right to be smug. I should be worshipped like a Hero; I _am_ being worshipped like a Hero. I am a warrior, a leader, and a damn handsome one at that.

I would have to be blind not to see my own beauty. My bronze hair and sea green eyes made me only second best in beauty to Cashmere, the Goddess of Love and Beauty herself. But considering that she's a woman, that doesn't even count anyways.

Everywhere I walked there was a woman, sometimes even a man, admiring my looks and I humored them. Why not? Every man has his urges. With my most recent win; I've had even more popularity than ever.

Strolling around the garden, I spot someone who I haven't seen since leaving my hometown.

"Brutus!" I call out. "Brutus! I haven't seen you in months!"

The older man's muscles bulge as he moves towards me and I take a step back. Not out of fear though, out of disgust. _What a hideous man_. I have nothing to fear from the man in front of me. I am stronger than him anyways, maybe not physically but when you're strategic and smart, brute strength doesn't matter all that much, and judging from the prominent frown on his face and the crease above his eyebrows he knew it, too.

"It's only been two months, Finnick," the brute grunts. His tone of voice is impatient, as if he can't wait to get away from me. I can imagine why, too. Brutus is the God of War. He must be seething at the seams considering the amount of recognition I've been getting from my last battle.

"I haven't seen you at the Battle of La Capita," I bring up. I know that I'm egging him on, but I can't help but shove my success into his face. Brutus has never hesitated to brag about his own winnings and now it is a time for him to get a taste of his own medicine.

"I had more important battles to tend to," Brutus barely hisses out from behind a curled lip.

"Really, what?" I play with the hem of my designer shirt, pulling at the loose threads that I've created over the span of a couple hours.

The God of War snarls as he answers me and I tune his words out easily. He must be able to tell that I'm not listening to him by the way his fist curls when he's finished talking.

"That's interesting…" I trail off, not comprehending a word that he just said. "Well, I'm off to visit my mother then. Have a good day!"

"Wait!" Brutus calls before I can leave. "You know, I saw Annie Cresta heading towards Persephone's Gardens. I'm sure she wouldn't mind a bit of company."

"Annie Cresta," I murmur, putting a face to the name. "Thanks for telling me." I throw a grin at him as he walks away, considering my options. I haven't seen my mother for two whole months and I'm unused to being far from home. I like to stay as close to the sea as possible when I can.

However, a tryst with Annie Cresta wouldn't take all that long anyways. The two of us have always had a bit of an intimate relationship since I've turned eighteen. We've drifted off ever since we had a disagreement a few years back, but we still have the occasional meet up. She wanted commitment that I wasn't ready for, and me, being a young and viral man wanted the freedom to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

I shrugged my shoulders, deciding to find the woman in question. How long could it take anyways? An hour at most, I bet.

I trail off into the woodland path, following the dirt trail. Centaurs gallop not to far from me and I give them a nod. Centaurs are incredibly strong and fiercely loyal to their brethren. I've had the honor of working with a few of them when I was at war.

The occasional fairy flutters around, tending to the colorful flowers and nourishing them. I've never really liked fairies. They are way too bright and not at all friendly. If you were to even step on a flower in their presence, they would throw you a glare that rivaled their size.

Doing my best to keep a straight face, I drifted off the path and purposely stepped on the white daisies that lined the trail. The shrieks of the tiny creatures echoed my actions and I tried my best to hide a smile. They were flowers, not children!

Ten minutes into my path, I frown at the figure in front of me. The younger blonde boy is hiding away behind a tree, completely visible to me but not to the person or creature he is trying to shield himself from.

"Peeta! What are you doing?" I question the smaller boy. The arrow he had notched tells me he is doing his job, but I can't help myself from asking the question.

I peer over his shoulder before he can respond and glance at the couple before me. It was only a human girl and boy. They aren't all that pretty, either. Catching sight of me, their eyes widen and they take off, running at a speed that I didn't even know humans were capable of. I let out a laugh at seeing their scrambling figures disappearing further and further from me.

"Dammit, Finnick!" Peeta hisses, glaring at me. I raise my eyebrows in response. In all of my years of knowing Peeta, I've never known him to swear. He has always been much too kind.

"They were just humans," I defend myself with an exasperated sigh. "You could find another couple in no time. Better yet, lay down your weapon and keep them for the real warriors."

Peeta scowls at me further, crossing his arms in front of his broad body. "Love can be the biggest strength, as well as the biggest weakness."

"Love?" I scoff. In all of my years, I've never felt so much of a sign of love. I've been through dozens of women and haven't felt even a bit of affection for anyone of them. "Love is an illusion that you cast on whichever poor being that's unfortunate enough to appear on your list."

"Love is a blessing," Peeta huffs. "You love Mags."

"The love between a mother and son is completely different from the _love _between a man and a woman," I laugh. "There is no such thing as real love between a man and woman, only lust."

Peeta's lips pull down into a frown, disagreeing with me.

"You'll regret ever saying that," he sighs, getting a look in his eyes. I let out a chuckle at his response.

"Will I?" I taunt. "What are you going to do? Strike me with your harmless arrows?"

Peeta stays quiet and turns away from me. A grin appears on my face at his supposed submission. I'm stronger than him anyways, there's nothing that he could do to overpower me in a fight. It was smart of him to back off.

I continue in my walk, confident that Peeta wouldn't do anything to harm me. Asides from his lack of strength, he is also too kind to seek for revenge anyways. An hour into my venture, I ponder over the sincerity of Brutus's words. I've reached Persephone's Gardens over fifteen minutes ago. I've visited the lake that I know Annie loves best and have found no sign of the other woman.

I wouldn't put it past Brutus to lie to me. He's been in a bad mood ever since I've returned home from war and it would be just like him to send me out on an adventure and delay my visit to my mother.

Since wandering from the water, I've delved further and further into the woods that surround the area. I haven't ever been this far out before, always sticking to the lake that greets me in the entrance of the Gardens.

Persephone's Gardens are too big to explore in a single day and I've never taken to nature or anything that comes with it. However the large trees that loom over my head captivate me just as much as the human sized birds that perch on the branches and sing out the tunes of Gods.

A twig snaps behind me and I turn towards the noise, a charming smile on my face. Just as quick as my grin appears on my face, it's just as swiftly wiped away. "Your arrows may strike all things else, but mine shall strike you," the son of Cashmere announces. Peeta's figure only lasts less than a second, and the arrow flies from his bow and into my chest.

I gasp out, not from the pain, but from the pressure of it. If I were a human or any other simple-minded creature, I wouldn't be able to see or feel the result of the arrow. However, as I pull the golden tipped arrow that protrudes from my chest out, I can't help but question the sanity of the weaker boy.

Did he actually think that this would _hurt _me? I'm more tempted to give him a lesson on how to genuinely harm an enemy rather than be mad at him at first. Then the enormity of the situation finally hits me. He _actually_ wanted to hurt me, possibly kill me!

I've never been particularly rude to the younger man. I've only ever been as mean to him as I have the rest of the other Gods and Goddesses. I gape at the glossy arrow that's now clutched in my hand.

I would need to get my revenge on the other man. Not out of spite, but to teach him a lesson. Peeta can't just shoot arrows at anyone who angers him! No matter how harmless the arrow is!

When the next presence reveals itself to me, I'm caught off guard. There is no snap of a twig or rustle of a bush this time. Only silence.

The first thing I notice about the person is that there is an arrow protruding from her chest, too. _Seems like Peeta didn't just go after me, then_, I think oddly content knowing that I wasn't his only victim.

However this arrow isn't golden and there is nothing beautiful about it. It's grey and heavy looking and very sloppy, the feathers that don it look to be fit for common pigeons and I can't see the tip but I can't help but think that it's as ugly as the rest of it. _Geez Peeta, couldn't find a better arrow? _

Then I look up to see her face and my breath is stolen from me, taken away by the beauty in front of me. Even though she's glaring at me, I can't help but admire how captivating she looks. All thoughts of revenge on Peeta are wiped clean from my head, replaced by the girl in front of me.

My heart flutters at the sight of her and I have to take a step back, physically affected. Her eyes are grey, such a common color, but they pierce into my own. Her hair is brown, another seemingly average feature, and it's captured in a braid over her shoulder, but it looks perfect to me. Everything about her looks perfect to me. She could put Cashmere to shame with her beauty.

I'm so caught up into her beauty that I don't even register the pure and unadulterated fury etched on her face until she realizes a sharp, angry sounding snarl.

"What do you think you're doing here!?"

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My first chapter of Golden Arrows and Silver Scowls. I don't exactly plan to update this anytime soon, basically I just wanted this out there so that I have something to base off of when I do chose to come back to it. Right now, I'm trying to focus on my main fanfiction,_ A Love Not Meant to Be,_ but this is likely to be priority number two when I finish that story. I felt like there are too many of the same Finniss fanfiction and that it needed a change up. I haven't read any Finniss fanfiction with the supernatural incorporated into it yet, so I figured why not start?


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